Biotech Values

[Biowatch]

DNDN & NIH meeting

#msg-16997263

>Additionally, the FDA and the NIH had a conference last week and the poster child for that conference was Provenge and its very impressive survival advantage along with its minimal and transient side-effects (slight fever and chills for one or two days).<

I have listened to part of the eight hour NIH webcast and plan to listen to the whole thing (perhaps twice.) I would NOT say DNDN and Provenge were the recurring themes, at least not in the part I have heard so far.

They think an adjuvant to boost the immune system will play a critical role, but thus far the main ones tested have been GM-CSF, because it is commercially available, and dendritic cells, because doctors have access to the patient's own dendritic cells.

They said this may not be the best approach, but that researchers are using it for now because it is what is available and not prohibitively expensive. They also said that treatments customized to each patient, (e.g., an anti-idiotypic antibody treatment for B cell lymphoma that targets the specific B cell causing a patient's lymphoma,) tends to work better, but is much more expensive and technically difficult to accomplish than a one-size fits all treatment (like the anti-CD20 antibody Rituxan.)

I'll add some more notes after I've listened to the remainder of the webcast.